FINDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC MISCONDUCT
Release Date: November 6, 2001
NOTICE: NOT-OD-02-009
Department of Health and Human Services
Notice is hereby given that the Office of Research Integrity (ORI) has made a
final finding of scientific misconduct in the following case:
Mr. Sherman Smith, University of California at San Francisco: Based on the
report of an investigation conducted by the University of California at San
Francisco (UCSF) and information obtained by ORI during its oversight review,
the U.S. Public Health Service (PHS) finds that Mr. Smith, former research
technician, Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine at UCSF,
engaged in scientific misconduct by intentionally and knowingly fabricating
and falsifying patient interview data as the sole interviewer in the PHS-
funded UCSF Asthma Disability Study (Asthma Study). The UCSF Asthma Study was
funded by National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), National
Institutes of Health (NIH), grants K04 HL03225, R01 HL56438, and R29 HL48959,
and National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), Centers for
Disease Control (CDC), grant R01 OH03480.
Specifically, Mr. Smith intentionally falsified and fabricated the interviews
of 107 patients in the Asthma Study. The falsification of the patient
interviews was committed with an intent to deceive. This deception, in turn,
had a material, negative impact on the Asthma Study in particular and on
asthma research in general. The falsified and fabricated data were reported
in ten publications, and fellow members of the Asthma Study Team had to spend
over two years correcting the research data and were required to submit
retractions or corrections for all ten publications produced by the study.
PHS has implemented the following administrative actions for the five (5) year
period beginning October 9, 2001:
(1) Mr. Smith is prohibited from serving in any advisory capacity to PHS,
including but not limited to service on any PHS advisory committee, board,
and/or peer review committee, or as a consultant.
(2) Mr. Smith is debarred from eligibility for, or involvement in,
nonprocurement transactions (e.g., grants and cooperative agreements) of the
Federal government and from contracting or subcontracting with any Federal
government agency as defined in 45 C.F.R. Part 76 (Debarment Regulations).
INQUIRIES
For further information contact:
Director
Division of Investigative Oversight
Office of Research Integrity
5515 Security Lane, Suite 700
Rockville, MD 20852
Telephone: (301) 443-5330